


high expectations

by obscurityofphylum



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obscurityofphylum/pseuds/obscurityofphylum
Summary: the first and last time klaus went to the mausoleum.
Kudos: 46





	high expectations

ben remembers the first time klaus went to special training.

he had left the night before, shivering in december weather in only his uniform shorts and top, as dad and pogo leaded him out to the car. ben had never seen klaus so excited before in his life. he was practically bouncing. he always told ben he wanted to be special, he wanted to have a purpose on missions. maybe dad was giving him training to make him stronger for missions?

dad had returned without klaus or pogo an hour after they left. his suit was slightly crumpled, and he didn't seem distressed in the least. he returned to his study, as always.

allison, diego, and luther were playing football on the stairs. vanya was practicing violin. five was reading. ben couldn't help but be jealous of klaus. he got special training, and got to do it alone with pogo? no yelling from dad? it wasn't fair.

that night, even though ben wouldn't admit it, he was lonely. he missed klaus. it felt strange to wake up without klaus's light footsteps on his bedroom floorboards, sneaking into ben's room to crawl into his bed, softly snoring from around the ear of his stuffed elephant. ben would never make fun of him for still sucking on his toys, even if they were almost nine. he knew how upset klaus got when diego made fun of him.

klaus had just always been behind. the smallest, the most emotional, the last to learn of his powers. sometimes ben wondered if dad even loved him. the constant canings for things he knew that if luther had done the same he would've gotten nothing but a telling-off.

ben drifted off, hollowly missing his brother, a blue stuffed elephant with a tattered ear cuddled against his chest.

in the morning, dad left early and came back as grace was making breakfast. he asked luther to come out to the car with him when he got back. pogo looked solemn when he entered the dining room, gazing behind him as reginald carried something that vaguely looked like ben's brother.

"grace, number four will not be attending breakfast this morning. i shall request one of the children bring his meal to his bedroom." pogo said. grace nodded, flashing a smile before turning mechanically to put plates in the cabinet. ben, curious as to where his brother was, peeked around the corner.

klaus was being carried by luther. he was pale and there were dark rings of exhaustion under his eyes, as well as bruises on his hands. he didn't even look up when luther dropped him on the couch.

allison went to place her hand on his shoulder, and he immediately startled like a deer in headlights. he screamed, his noises of panic dissolving as he began to hyperventilate.

he dry-heaved, coughing as he entered a sobbing fit. ben kneeled down next to allison, pushing past diego and five to hug klaus tight, close enough to feel his frightened brother's curly hair under his chin, his chest rising and falling in sporadic rhythm.

special training couldn't be good, ben thought. 

special training couldn't be bad, ben thought.

the mission alarm blared for the third time that week, the red light casting crimson shadows on the tile floors. klaus wasn't here. he never was anymore. just for old times sake, sometimes ben peered into his room.

nothing had changed. just more and more drawings compiled on the walls overtime, broken window locks, fist-shaped holes in the drywall, the typical klaus renovations.

a certain object caught ben's eye this time.

a blue stuffed elephant, its back ripped open grotesquely. most likely just storage for whatever klaus used these days. ben rolled his eyes.

even though he felt bad, he couldn't help but be smug when klaus was in special training. maybe it'd teach him a lesson to stay clean. make himself useful.

as they rushed out the door, ben stopped one last time to let his mother kiss his forehead, smiling her mechanically perfect smile.

ben hates remembering the mission. all he knows is that one moment he was with his siblings, and the next he was not. in the next moment, he also had a bullet in his chest.

he woke up in a dark room. it was the size of a large closet, with stone walls and floors. a small patch of daylight shone through a crack in the roof. he could see the gentle rise and fall of a sleeping figure in the corner of the room, only a silhouette from the darkness.

"hello?" ben asked softly.

"b-ben?" a small voice asked. the owner of the voice crept into the patch of daylight. ben didn't recognize him at first.

he was pale and thin, skin stretched over each bone in his body. his hands and forehead were bruised shades of yellow and purple.

the worst were his eyes.

hazel green contrasted against dark purple eyelids, exhaustion and sadness burning into each of ben's senses as he gazed at what seemed to be a shell of his brother.

his brother, the same brother who couldn't sleep alone, the same brother who begged for ben to read him stories until they both fell asleep on the parlor couches as children.

he couldn't decide if the drugs or their father did this to him.

"klaus?"

"no, n-no, p-please-"

"what's wrong?"

"i wasn't there to protect you! y-you died-" klaus crumpled into hysteric sobs. ben's eyebrows knitted together in concern, kneeling down in front of his brother.

it almost gave him deja vu of the first time klaus had come back from his first time in the mausoleum, nearly ten years ago.

except this time, when ben reached to hug his broken brother, his hands passed right through his body with a blue glow.


End file.
